Something To Ponder​A blog by Nancy Zimmerman

Today was another fantastic day in paradise. Well, maybe not in paradise, but certainly in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I awoke early and waited to head over to the motel office for some coffee. The door was locked. I went back to the room and read a bit more. There was a television I had not turned on, simply because it was hanging on the wall and I had not seen it until this morning. As the old saying goes, “If it had been a snake, it would have bitten me.” I thought it was strange there was no television in the room, but since I never watch it anyway, it really didn’t matter.

I turned on the television and found that there was little on, except for an old rerun of the Western show, “Bronco.” I watched it for a while and thought the “girl” in the show looked remarkably like Mary Tyler Moore. I kept trying to decide, but it was not until the credits ran that I was informed that, yes, it was a young Mary Tyler Moore. The reception was not very good so I turned it off and checked my Facebook account. This ran a bit more time down the hourglass and I went back to get coffee about thirty minutes later. The door was open, but there was not breakfast ready nor was there coffee. The clerk came out and said that it would be about a half an hour before there would be anything to eat or drink. So, back to the room for another few minutes. Once I got coffee, I checked the time and realized I could go down by the Falls and get a glimpse of it all before the holiday crowds started forming. The view was gorgeous but there was not any place to park, unless one wanted to pay $22.00 and walk about a mile. I thought that was a bit excessive on both counts for a chance to take about 30 seconds worth of pictures, so I continued to drive until I found a convenient place to turn around. While driving I saw a mini mart that boasted souvenirs so I thought I had probably better stop and see what the current trend was besides Tee shirts. Not much, I found out. I had asked my grandsons if they wanted a shirt or something else. They opted out of the Tee shirts, so they got something else. I will not divulge what I got, but let us just say there are little bottles of souvenir water that has gone over the falls for sale in those little shops. Back to the motel and it is time I can call the bank to get that situation straightened out. I had messaged my son earlier about the phone situation and he had assured me he would get to the provider and add Canadian access for a week. The bank was very cooperative and I thanked them for being stalwart in their efforts to keep fraudulent activity from taking place on my account. After all, it was not their fault that they could not call me on a defunct phone line. What to do next? Well, I could look up the Tourism department. I checked the address but after typing it into the Maps App, I could not find a building where the “dot” was. I would just go to the helicopter service and see if indeed, the gentleman had left my name as he said he would. Success at last. I was given a ticket and treated like a very special guest. Since I was by myself, I was put in with a group of 5 others and went soaring over the Canadian falls complete with narrative. It lasted about 10 minutes and although it would have been pricey if I had paid for the ticket, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get a spectacular view of the scenery. On the way back to the motel, there was a Souvenir City that I could not pass up. It had all sorts of items, that were interesting, but did not capture my attention. The only thing I considered buying was a carved buffalo horn and the price of the beautiful items kept me in check. The artist was there discussing his work, and for the talent and skill shown, it was prices reasonably. I just saw it as yet another “dust catcher” in my house and I was trying to rid myself of those. So, the afternoon has been spent reading, talking to friends on Facebook, and writing this Blog. I made a new friend as we discussed American Politics. She and her friends look at our administration as , “a joke,” as do I. Nice to have it confirmed by our neighbors to the north.